![]() ![]() The Silk Road is one of the most memorable of these, it was one of the earliest and largest trade networks in human history. The crusader states were located in the center of the Holy Land which granted access to the major trade routes that sprouted to Europe, Africa, and Far East Asia. This was because this area on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean was a trading and religious hub. ![]() The people who lived there were often a mix of peoples from Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. It revolved around the key factors of the economy, religion, and military power. ![]() There was a mix of cultures in the crusader states and as such it could be a tense and difficult place to live. And in 1096, the main forces of the crusaders began to take the land which later became known as Outremer. It was the last foothold of Christendom in Eastern Europe and had some of the biggest churches in the world. From nobles and professional soldiers to camp followers and peasants, all traversed the land to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Travelers from all across Europe decided to take up arms. Prester John: The Legendary Christian King.The Albigensian Crusade: Why did the Catholics start a Civil War?. ![]() The crowd was so enamored that the first chant of the crusades was born: “Dieu li volt” or “God wills it”. Importantly, he offered remission of sins for those who participated in the crusade and won back their rightful Christian territories. He suggested that they should instead turn their combined attention to the east where the Muslims and Turks had been attacking the Byzantine Empire, a Christian kingdom. The four leaders of the First Crusade, who suddenly had the kingdom of Outremer on their hands (Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville / Public Domain ) Whilst there is no record of exactly what he said, from nearly contemporary sources, Urban denounced warfare between Christian Kingdoms of the west. The First Crusade was called by Pope Urban II in 1095 from Clermont where he gave a raucous and inspiring speech. So what was Outremer like? And how did a small band of armed Franks and their followers hold sway over an Arabic population for so long? The Origins of Outremer The term Outremer, derived from the French “Ultramar” meaning overseas, was used by medieval writers but has been somewhat forgotten today. Few of the people who lived there were “Frankish” like the conquerors. Whilst the area covered here is often referred to as the Crusader States, this is a touch misleading. Created by the Catholic leaders of the First Crusade in the 1090s, they were the Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1291), the County of Edessa (1098-1150), the Principality of Antioch (1098-1287), and the County of Tripoli (1102-1289). There was now a new Christian kingdom in the Middle East: Outremer.Īctually, technically there were four new Christian kingdoms, collectively named Outremer. It seems they were almost as surprised as everyone else that they had won, but this unlikely victory created a new situation. The Holy Land had been Muslim for centuries, and to win it all back seemed an almost insurmountable challenge.īut, with God apparently on their side, that is exactly what happened, and in 1099 Jerusalem fell to the crusaders. However, it is not immediately clear that the church, or those who joined the crusade, actually expected to win Jerusalem. With the Catholic church stating that sins could be absolved through armed pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Jerusalem, religion was thrust to the forefront of European politics, coloring European policy for the next two centuries. The First Crusade, inspired by a Byzantine call to arms in 1095 and legitimized by the Pope the following year, was a brilliant strategy for rearranging European affairs. ![]()
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